Air humidifier



Sept. 19, 1967 K. FLURY AIR HUMIDIFIER Filed Feb. 23, 1965 ma 2: NW

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Inven m- KzI'Z FZury United States Patent 3,342,466 AIR HUMIDIFIER IKarl Flury, Adliswii, Zurich, Switzerland, assignor to Defensor, Zurich,Switzerland Filed Feb. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 434,264 Claims priority,application Switzerland, Feb. 29, 1964, 2,573/ 64 5 Claims. (Cl. 26191)The present invention relates to an air humidifier comprising at leasttwo centrifugal distributor discs, spaced axially apart one above theother, motor-driven and with a central opening to which a suction pipeextending into a tank of liquid is connected, and means for distributingto all the distributor discs the liquid entering through the suctionpipe.

In existing air humidifiers of this type, the distributor discs andtheir spacers are rigidly connected to form one assembly, which it mayor may not be possible to remove as a whole for cleaning purposes. Thespacers are so designed that they allow the liquid taken in through thesuction pipe to pass through to the upper side of the discs anddistribute it as evenly as possible over the discs.

The essential distinguishing feature of the air humidifier here proposedis that the inner peripheral portion of at least one of the series ofdistributor discs, adjacent to the central opening, is of undulatingform around the periphery and bears against the inner peripheral portionof the adjacent distributor disc, this undulating portion serving tomaintain a space between the remaining portions of the said twodistributor discs and at the same time to distribute the flow of liquidto these discs.

One construction of air humidifier in accordance with the invention willnow be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical axial section through part of the air humidifiercomprising two distributor discs arranged one above the other; and

FIGURE 2 is a perspective drawing of a section of the two distributordiscs.

The air humidifier illustrated has an electric driving motor 10, withvertical spindle 11. The means of attachment of the motor are not shownin the drawing. On motor spindle 11 is a dished hub member 12. The lowerend of spindle 11 has a screw-threaded extension 13, to which adetachable vertical intake pipe 14 is attached. Intake pipe 14, whichhas a tubular lower portion and funnel-shaped upper portion, contains athreaded central part 15, joined to the upper portion by a number ofradial fins 16. The open lower end of intake 14 extends into tank 17,which contains a supply of liquid 18 for humidifying the air.

Between hub 12 and the top end of intake 14 are fitted two centrifugaldistributor discs 19 and 20, each of which has a circular centralopening 21 through which pass spindle 11 and a portion of hub 12.Distributor discs 19 and 20 are centred on hub 12 by a number of radialfins 22 extending from the hub and engaging the inner periphery definingopenings 21.

The inner peripheral portion 19a of the lower disc 19, adjacent toopening 21 is flat. The corresponding inner peripheral portion 20a ofupper disc 20, on the contrary, is undulating, as can be seen moreclearly in FIGURE 2. The undulation of peripheral portion 20a is insteps between two planes, with the result that the troughs and thecrests of the undulation lie in respective planes. The undulating innerperipheral portion 20a of upper disc 20 bears on the fiat innerperipheral portion 19a of lower disc 19. Thus, the sector-shapedportions of the wave troughs lie fiat on plane peripheral portion 19a,while the likewise sector-shaped portions of the wave' crests lieagainst shoulder 12a of hub 12.

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Distributor discs 19 and 20 are not rigidly intercom nected but arefitted separately to centring fins 22 and held together and againstshoulder 12a of hub 12 by means of intake pipe 14. The undulating shapeof inner peripheral portion 20a of the one distributor disc 20 resultsin all the other (and more particularly the outer) portions of both thediscs 19 and 20, being spaced from one another. By virtue of theundulating shape of peripheral portion 20a, moreover, the liquid carriedupwards by intake pipe 14 is distributed over the upper faces of bothdistributor discs 19 and 20. The peripheral distances between the upwardand downward steps of the undulation are equal. This ensures that equalquantities of liquid are carried to the upper and lower distributordiscs. The liquid for lower disc 19 flows through beneath the wavecrests of part 20a, while the liquid for upper disc 20 flows over thewave troughs in part 20a.

The two distributor discs 19 and 20 are surrounded in conventionalmanner by a stationary impact-surface ring 25, which is made up of aseries of narrow plates. The purpose of impact-surface ring 25 is todivide into fine droplets of mist the thin films of liquid thrownoutwards by the outer peripheries of distributor discs 19 and 20. On theunderside of lower distributor disc 19 are a number of fan-blades 26 forproducing a current of air which flows through between the plates ofimpactsurface ring 25, catches up the mist droplets formed there andcarries them off into the atmosphere that is to be humidified.

The mode of operation of air humidifiers of this kind is well known.

Should it become necessary to free distributor discs 19 and 20 andintake 14 from deposits of lime and dirt, intake pipe 14 should beunscrewed from motor spindle 11, as can readily be done by preventingdistributor disc 19 from turning. The two distributor discs 19 and 20are then removed from hub 12. This leaves members 14, 19 and 20completely free, so that they can easily be cleaned. To reassemble thehumidifier, one first fits upper disc 20 and then lower disc 19 on tocentring fins 22 of hub 12, after which intake 14 is screwed to threadedextension 13 of motor spindle 11. The tightening of this screwconnection holds discs 19 and 20 in position. There is no need toarrange the two discs 19 and 20 in any particular radial positionrelative to one another or to hub 11, nor are any spacers requiredbetween the distributor discs. The proportion in which the liquid isdistributed to the lower and upper discs always remains the same,without any special steps needing to be taken to ensure this.

It is also possible for a similar arrangement to be adopted with threeor more distributor discs. With three discs, for example, the lowermostwould have a flat peripheral portion, like that of disc 19 in theexample illustrated. The middle disc would have an undulating innerperipheral portion like that of disc 20, except that the peripherallength of the wave troughs would be twice as large as that of the wavecrests. The inner portion of the topmost disc would again be similarlyundulating, except that here the wave crests, while of the same height,would have a peripheral length twice as large, as that of the wavetroughs. To assemble the air humidifier, the wave troughs of the topmostdisc would be placed in the larger wave troughs of the middle disc,which in turn would lie on the flat inner peripheral portion of thelowermost disc. The liquid brought in through the intake connectionwould then necessarily flow in equal thirds to the upper side of allthree distributor discs. In addition, the third disc would need to be soshaped that its flat outer portion was spaced away from the middle discwhen the inner peripheral portions of all three discs were clampedbetween the intake connection and the hub.

The distributor discs of the air humidifiers described may withadvantage be made of plastics or sheet metal.

What I claim is:

1. An air humidifier comprising at least two centrifugal distributordiscs spaced axially apart oneabove the other and with a centralopening,- a suction pipe connected to the central opening of thelowermost of the discs and extending into a tank of liquid, a motor indriving connection with the discs to rotate same, the inner peripheralportion of at least one of the distributor discs, adjacent to thecentral opening, being of undulating form around the inner periphery andbearing against the inner peripheral portion of another one of thedistributor discs, said undulating portion serving to maintain a spacebetween the remaining portions of the said distributor discs and at thesame time to distribute to the discs the flow of liquid entering throughthe suction pipe.

2. An air humidifier as defined in claim 1, in which the undulatingportion of said one distributor disc bears on a fiat portion of saidanother distributor disc.

3. An air humidifier as defined in claim 1, in which the undulatingportion is stepped alternately in opposite directions between twoplanes.

4. An air humidifier as defined in claim 1, in which the number of thedistributor discs is two, the peripheral lengths between the upward anddownward steps of the undulating portion being substantially equal.

5. An air humidifier as defined in claim 1, in which the suction pipe isdetachably screwed on to a threaded end of a spindle of the motor, a hubmember being mounted on the motor spindle, all the distributor discsbeing individually fitted loosely over a centring member of said hub,said centring member extending into the central opening of the discs,said discs being held to one another and to the hub by means of thesuction pipe screwed on the motor spindle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,083,057 12/1913 Clawson 261-911,957,316 5/1934 Buckley et al. 26191 2,537,833 1/1951 s 261-913,108,147 10/1963 Flury.

FOREIGN PATENTS 257,663 10/1948 Switzerland.

HARRY B. THORNTON, Primary Examiner.

E. H. RENNER, Assistant Examiner.

1. AN AIR HUMIDIFIER COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO CENTRIFUGAL DISTRIBUTORDISCS SPACED AXIALLY APART ONE ABOVE THE OTHER AND WITH A CENTRALOPENING, A SUCTION PIPE CONNECTED TO THE CENTRAL OPENING OF THELOWERMOST OF THE DISCS AND EXTENDING INTO A TANK OF LIQUID, A MOTOR INDRIVING CONNECTION WITH THE DISCS TO ROTATE SAME, THE INNER PERIPHERALPORTION OF AT LEAST ONE OF THE DISTRIBUTOR DISCS, ADJACENT TO THECENTRAL OPENING, BEING OF UNDULATING FORM AROUND THE INNER PERIPHERY ANDBEARING AGAINST THE INNER PERIPHERAL PORTION OF ANOTHER ONE OF THEDISTRIBUTOR DISCS, SAID UNDULATING PORTION SERVING TO MAINTAIN A SPACEBETWEEN THE REMAINING PORTIONS OF THE SAID DISTRIBUTOR DISCS AND AT THESAME TIME TO DISTRIBUTE TO THE DISCS THE FLOW OF LIQUID ENTERING THROUGHTHE SUCTION PIPE.